Divorce is a Bitter Pill to Swallow- Chapter 2

Winter ’93 continued…

Justin looked at the beautiful golden-skinned girl seated across the table from him and wished he were elsewhere or at least at another table. She was wearing a white princess style dress with a matching tiara to boot. Pink lip-gloss tinted the lips that had been blabbing his ear off since he entered.

Darnell had forced him to sit at this table with her supposed group of “friends”, but he wondered if she knew her “friend” was giving him the “I want to rip your clothes off” look. At first he had believed that he had been mistaken, but his cousin had described the “look” to him countless times. And to put the icing on the cake, her mouth was running a mile a minute and she wasn’t even talking about anything important.

He blocked out the rest of her words as he observed the decorations that lined the interior of the cafeteria. It wasn’t until Darnell had softly jabbed him in the side that he had started actually listening.

“Darnell that is so cool that you brought a high school boy as your date! What grade are you in Justin?”

“The ninth.” And that was the end of the conversation as far as he was concerned.

“Darnell why don’t you go get some drinks for you and Justin?” To that question, Darnell gave her a withering stare, but she left the table at the insistence of Justin’s brilliant smile.

Not even a second passed before the “friend” glided into Darnell’s empty seat. Immediately, she whipped out her French-manicured hand, “My name is Whitney Dickerson.” She winked and then smiled brightly, expecting Justin to take her hand.

Justin stared at it for a while before grasping it with the tips of his fingers. He shook her freckled hand lightly and then let it fall to her lap. Offended, her lashes fluttered.

Justin turned away to look for Darnell. Where is she with those drinks? Then he found her, strutting awkwardly but carefully back to their table as she tried to balance the pair of drinks. He smiled at the scene.

Whitney scoffed, her eyes following his line of vision. She watched Darnell almost trip over her feet and drop the drinks. She shook her head. “Darnell is such a boy! She can’t even walk in those little heels she has on. Who paid you take her out? Her mama?”

At that, Justin whirled around to face her. If these words were coming out of the mouth of Darnell’s “supposed” friend, she needed some new ones. “Look, lay off of Darnell, alright?”

Whitney smirked, “Why? You like, like her or something?” The grin that she was flashing either meant two things; she was jealous or holding back laughter.

Justin’s eyes averted to Darnell, who had been stopped by one of her other friends.

“Don’t bother. Darnell hasn’t ever shown any interest in boys.” She paused to chew on the tip of her nail. “Sometimes I wonder if she is-”

“Don’t go there Whitney.” Justin warned, yet she only giggled and moved back to her seat as Darnell came over to reclaim hers.

“Darnell, Justin is so fun-nyy!” She made a show of just how funny she thought Justin was by giggling loudly and obnoxiously.

Darnell cut her eyes at him with a ‘what the hell’ look. Justin shrugged because he didn’t know how to tell her that her friend had been bad-mouthing her. He retrieved his drink from her grasp and sipped it slowly while Darnell conversed with Whitney. They talked about all of the girly things that he or Darnell could care less about. After a while, Justin forced himself out of boredom and interrupted the one-sided conversation.

“Hey Darnell, do you wanna dance?” Whitney snorted, attempting to hold back her laughter. Justin and Darnell cut her a look at the same time.

“This isn’t really your flava Justin.” Tevin Campbell, Can We Talk was playing. Justin was a Punk Rock addict.

“It doesn’t matter.” Justin jumped up, clasped her arm, and yanked her from her seat. Darnell’s arms fell around his waist as she stumbled into his chest. Anxious to get away from Whitney, he all but dragged her to the dance floor with her heels scraping the polished surface.

Once he found a desirable space amongst all of the dancing bodies, he stood awkwardly in front of Darnell with his arms wide open and not knowing what else to do. He was used to only knocking his head to the beat rather than two stepping. Darnell must’ve also suffered from lack of dancing talent because she just stood there.

She seemed nervous until she said, “Don’t you embarrass me boy,” and then began walking towards him. Whitney had been watching them with a mocking smirk.

Justin rolled his eyes and hauled Darnell to him. Breasts smashed against chest, pelvis against pelvis, and his hands on her hips. Darnell tried writhing away to increase the space between them, but to Whitney, who was laughing uncontrollably, he was sure it looked like really bad dancing.

Whitney had been looking down her nose at Darnell all night, and since he knew that Whitney wanted him, Justin decided to get back at her by flirting with Darnell. It seemed to work. Whitney was now glaring, trying not to look at them, but jealous all the same.

About halfway through the song, Darnell had felt the need to inform Justin of his lack of dancing skills, “Justin you’re not dancing on beat.” Not that he’d actually cared.

“And you keep stepping on my feet. Pay attention.”

“Sorry.” Justin adjusted his footing to her liking, but somehow managed to continue flirting with Darnell, unbeknownst to her. However, Darnell had become aware of his visual fixation with Whitney.

She abruptly pushed away from him to turn around and shoot a menacing glare at Whitney and then turn on Justin, “Why do you keep staring at her? Do you want to dance with her or something? Because if you want to that-”

He silenced her by pulling her arm to lead her back into the slow dance although the next song had already started. “I’m not looking at that slut okay.”

Darnell’s eyes widened at the insult as she avoided his reach again, “Don’t talk about my friend like that Justin.”

Justin looked around to see many eyes watching them. “She is not your friend Darnell…” He whispered through clenched teeth. Why did she always have to refute everything he said?

Darnell frowned as the rest of his words trailed off. “What are you talking about? What do you mean she’s not my friend?”

Justin hadn’t known Darnell that long, but he knew her well enough to know that the fury brewing in her brown eyes wasn’t a good sign-neither was the clenching and unclenching of her fists.

Justin knew that the last thing he should be focusing on was how incredibly sexy Darnell looked when angry. He knew the fiery eyes and pursed lips all to well. However, as she stood there with her hands on her hips and her chest heaving with anger, she looked sexy as all get out. Just like a miniature version of Darrien.

As soon as his mind registered how good Darnell looked mixed with visions of Darrien, it didn’t take long for his body to get the hint as well.

“What did she say to you?”

Justin hadn’t even realized that they were still discussing the same useless topic. “Just forget about it for now. You shouldn’t let her ruin my-I mean your night.” If Darnell had caught his slight blunder, she hadn’t bothered to say something about it.

Apparently, Darnell was willing to leave the topic unfinished because she stepped back into the circle of his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder and fingered the satin fabric of his tie. However, Justin’s words still left her stomach unsettled.

“Did Whitney try to come at you?” Her question came out as a low whisper that Justin had to move closer to hear. The action caused her mouth to inadvertently brush against the flesh of his ear. Justin jerked and unconsciously pulled her closer to him. The shell of his ear had always been a sensitive part of his body. How he figured that out? He doesn’t remember.

“Yeah she did.” He didn’t even bother trying to sugarcoat her friend’s ignorance for the benefit of her feelings.

Darnell released a breathy sigh and brushed her nose against his collarbone. “Okay.” She hadn’t said much after that statement. What else could she say? Whitney obviously had the hots for Justin and she was positive that Justin returned the sentiments, even though she didn’t have the nerve to ask him such a thing. She could never be as girly as Whitney, Darrien, nor any of the girls in her school. At least Justin had the guts to let her know it.

The unsettling feeling in her stomach returned and Darnell had felt propelled to lift her head from Justin’s shoulder. Suddenly she was repulsed by the thought of being near him, when he clearly wanted to be dancing with Whitney.

“Where are you going Darnell?”

She closed her eyes to think about her answer and then opened them when she was prepared to speak. “Don’t you want to dance with Whitney?”

Justin blinked a few times as he comprehended her question, “Why would I want to dance with her? I just called her a slut.” He reached for her again and pulled her flush against him much to her protest.

“Justin I know that thing under your jacket is because of Whitney.” She grimaced and rolled her eyes, attempting to wriggle free from his grasp, but only causing more disruption to Justin’s hormones.

Justin hung his head low, fiddling with the satin bow at her back. “No it’s because of you Dee.” He sighed daring himself not to look up and see her devastating reaction, revealed by the grip on his hand and her cry of her surprise.

~*~*~*~

“He’s always horny! He’s constantly asking for it as soon as I get in the house like I’m not tired after taking care of his three kids.” Darnell crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at her husband.

“All I want is a little bit of love every now and then Dee. You can’t even give me any on the weekends!” Justin mirrored her stance.

“You hear that? It’s always about Justin twenty-four seven. I’m sick of it. And I’m sick of him always brushing up against me and poking me with his thing….trying to persuade me to do it in the closet and shit like that.” She hissed rising from her seat to pace around the office.

Despite his anger, Justin’s gaze traveled up his wife’s figure. His eyes continued their journey over every luscious curve until they reached her delicate neck. He sighed as he imagined wrapping his hands around it to shut her up.

His heart squeezed at the sight of her long, thick hair spilling down her back. With great effort, he struggled to remember the last time he ran his fingers through her soft locks or tugged it during the throes of passion.

Two months.

When Justin finally broke through his reverie, he realized that Darnell was headed toward the door. He jumped up quickly and jutted his arm across the threshold to block her escape.

“Where are you going?” If he had to sit through this therapy session than she had to as well especially since they both wanted this marriage to work.

“I’m leaving.”

“This was your idea Dee-”

“Move out of my way,” she hissed again.

Justin crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the doorway daring her to leave. “Can we please talk about this like rational adults?” he said.

“I’m done with being rational Justin.”

“I can see that. But what about the kids, can we try to settle on something for them?”

Darnell glared up at him. “I’m tired of this life. I’m tired of…”

He sucked in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes, “What? You’re tired of what Dee? Say it.”

Darnell clamped her mouth shut, shoved his arm out of the way and stormed out of the room.

Justin descended down the hall quickly after her, ignoring the insistent shouting of the therapist. “Say it Dee.”

She ignored him and continued to the front door.

He caught up to her and grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to face him. “You have something to say, Darnell. I want to hear you say it.”

“Since when?” She tried to pull her arm free to relieve herself from this conversation.

He moved to within inches of her face. As much as he wanted to kiss her he held his ground, clenching his fists at his sides. “I’m here ain’t I? Isn’t this what we came here for?”

Their glares merged as they stood in a stalemate.

“What else are you tired of?” he asked.

“You.” She lifted her chin, now that she’d finally voiced her feelings, her heart constricted, but nevertheless she continued. “I'm tired of me too, Justin. Sometimes I get really tired of just trying to be me."

Darnell broke their heated gaze first, easing her arm out of his grasp. She felt relief and regret when he let her arm go.

“I’m sorry.” He said in a quiet voice that spoke volumes just as she placed her hand on the door handle.

His words kept her frozen in place. She wiped a fallen tear from her eye with the back of her hand.

“I miss you Dee.” He ran a finger through her thick locks, wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms.

Darnell closed her eyes tightly as she released a harsh breath and gave a forced smile, “I know.” Another tear fell and she left the building before heavy emotions threatened to spill from her trembling lips.

The sound of the door closing echoed behind her retreating figure. He felt pain clutch his heart as he watched her climb into her car.

“Shit Dee.” Justin stared up at the white panels of the ceiling willing himself not to react emotionally to Darnell’s stubbornness even though he wanted to strangle the life out of her yet with the tenderness of a loving embrace.

“Fuck this shit man.” Justin punched the wooden door before dragging his feet to his seat in front of the therapist. The therapist, knowing that this, emotional breakdowns and a spouse storming out was all part of her job, remained quite and allowed Justin to gather himself. And she didn’t dare comment when she heard him sniffle back a tear.

Suddenly, he looked up at her. “We’re done here right?”

“Um…” She began fumbling with her notepad and looking over her notes. “Is it safe to assume that Mrs. Timberlake is not returning?”

Justin laughed a dry sad laugh. “Yes.”

“Alright. Well, would you like to continue as a solo session?”

“Hmm, I don’t know if I’m up to that right now.”

“Understandable.”

“So…” Justin wiped at his eyes. “Do we have to come back?”

“Well, yes, you have nine more sessions left.”

“Fucking fantastic.”

The therapist cleared her throat. “Unless, you want to cancel?” Justin didn’t answer right away.

“Do you?”

“No.” Justin replied after a while. Professional or not, the therapist smiled in response. “I mean I don’t want to get a divorce because I still love her and I think she still loves me. Actually, the subject of divorce hasn’t even come up yet. We’ve just been in a period of separation for two months. I moved out and then I moved back in, but then she moved out. Now she is living with Darrien.”

“Hmm, interesting…Is Darrien another man?”

“Hell no!” Justin shouted at the absurd idea. “Darrien is her sister.”

“Oh she was never mentioned. Let me pencil her in.”

“Yeah please do that.” At his request, the therapist smirked.

“So when do you want to schedule the next session for?”

“I’ll have Darnell call you.” Justin stood, quickly gathering all of his belongings.

“Ok well…” He was already out of the door before she could add, “see you then.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Darnell sat outside her mother’s house for what felt like hours. Finally she felt her chin tremble as an onslaught of tears threatened to spill over again.

Another long moment passed. A voice in her head screamed that she should just go inside, that she had to get her children, but she couldn’t make her feet walk up to the door. Her mother would surely jump to conclusions if she walked into the house a crying mess. Nonetheless, Darnell unbuckled her seatbelt and started the long walk up the driveway.

Her legs wobbled and her palms became sweaty the closer she arrived.

As usual her mother’s demanding presence filled the doorway. “Come here, darling.” As always the strong scent of Chanel No.5 preceded her. She extracted her arms in preparation for a hug, which Darnell returned as expected.

Darnell pulled free and moved into the entryway expecting to see her children rushing to her with open arms. She shot her mother a wayward glance. “Where are the girls?”

“Oh your husband came to pick them up.”

The uncomfortable knot in Darnell’s stomach tripled in size. Maybe it knew as well as she did that her mother was seconds away from launching into her “marriage is meant to last” tirade.

Irritated, Darnell went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of juice. Instantly, her mother was alongside her eyeing her with disapproval.

“You shouldn’t drink sugar like that honey. I only keep that stuff here for the children anyway.”

Basic politeness forced Darnell to ask, “How was your day? How were the girls?” even though she had no desire whatsoever to discuss the topic. She was sure her mother had launched a “be more girly” campaign on her daughters.

“The girls were fine. Victoria is in the other room taking a nap.” A wide, approving smile split her face, and she smacked her lips. Her mother had never hid her dislike for her grand daughters’ first names; in fact she insisted on calling them by their middle names instead.

“Justin didn’t take Jordin? Why?” But before she even thought to ask the question she already knew the answer.

“He said that you would get her.” She would bet that her mother was so insistent on keeping Jordin that Justin was forced to bear with her and leave his daughter.

Darnell tilted her head back and dissolved the juice in the glass before leaving the kitchen in search of her youngest daughter. When she entered the room, Jordin was standing in the middle of the room with her thumb in her mouth and glassy eyes.

Darnell immediately rushed to her, “Baby, what’s wrong?”

Her daughter looked up at her with big blue eyes and features reminiscent of her father’s. Sometimes just looking at Jordin would make tears gather at the back of her throat.

“Kori and Michal went with Daddy.”

Darnell had to force herself not to throw her mother a glare instead she proceeded to pack up her daughter’s things. Darnell hid a grimace as she stuffed Jordin’s toys into her backpack. Why had she foolishly hoped that her mother would allow her to raise her own daughters? Or-most foolish of all-that her mother would stop meddling in her marriage.

Her mother stood there waiting, as if she was waiting for Darnell to tell her what she had already expected- Darnell had walked out on yet another therapy session. She saw the condescending look in her eyes; she sensed the “you have to keep your marriage together” speech. As a wife, Darnell had received that look and speech from her mother many times during her marriage. That look was meant to tell her that her mother was disappointed with her.

“You did it again, didn’t you?” The assumption was laced with incredulity. A touch of disgust brushed over her features.

“Mama please don’t start.” Darnell pleaded, her voice weary with effort. She brushed her hair away from her face and lifted Jordin into her arms.

“Am I going with daddy too?”

“Yes you are because mommy has some stuff to do.” This was officially the first time she had lied to her daughter. In all actuality she didn’t have any tasks to complete that was more important than spending time with her daughters, but she couldn’t bare to face Justin after that botched therapy session-she had never been able to face him afterwards. A therapy session to fix a life she wasn’t happy with didn’t make sense to her.

However, she attended the first two sessions anyway hoping the therapist could somehow tell her what went wrong in her life without Darnell having to disclose any personal information of her own.

Darnell adjusted the strap of her daughter’s book bag and exited the room with her mother hot on her trail spewing off questions.

As she reached the entry her mother proceeded to berate her for supposedly allowing her marriage to fall apart- allowing her family to fall apart. “So you’re just going to walk out on this conversation like you’re doing your marriage and your family?”

Darnell opened her mouth to reply but continued walking, believing it was best to ignore her mother when she went into her “tirade”. If her mother knew any better she would stay out of her marriage, her meddling hadn’t worked with her sister Darrien, and it surely wouldn’t work with her. Yet, ignoring her mother would not help ease the frustration she would feel later knowing that she was slowly manifesting into the woman she was “supposed” to be.

Although, Darnell attempted to disregard her mother’s advice, Victoria’s final phrase caused her to stop in her tracks. “Running away doesn’t solve anything Darnell.” Her mother was right, but what her mother had failed to realize was that staying wouldn’t solve anything either.

“Mommy I miss daddy.” Her youngest voiced the feelings that were floating inside her.

“Me too, baby.” She decided not to lie to her daughter this time.

~*~*~*~

The car had barely been set in park before Jordin, who had been quite antsy the entire ride over, began begging her mother to unbuckle her seatbelt. She quieted once the ignition and radio went off, but as soon as Darnell exited the car and opened the back door, she was at it again.

“Hurry up Mommy!” Jordin whined anxiously. She was bouncing up and down in the car seat and wiggling her little K-Swiss covered feet. The buckle finally loosened and Darnell stepped back. Jordin wasted no time jumping down from her seat and dashing towards the house. Joyously, she skipped up the steps and even scraped her small hands on the cement when she tripped and tried to catch herself.

Darnell swore she told her too many times to count not to run because she would get hurt. However, voicing that same warning now would seem pointless seeing as Jordin only dusted off her spring jacket and continued up the stairs. Instead, she shoved her scraped palms into her jacket and drew her leg back so that she could kick the screen door hard enough to announce her presence.

“Open door Daddy! It’s me…Jordin!” Surely if he didn’t hear the kicking, he heard her desperate shouts for acknowledgement.

Shaking her head, Darnell turned away from the amusing scene to empty her sister’s car of Jordin’s things. There wasn’t much, but she took especially longer when she heard the screen door creak open and Justin step out onto the porch. He must’ve picked Jordin up and tossed her into the air before settling her against his hip because she kept screaming, “Do it again!” as always. But she whined, “Aww man,” when her father put her back on the ground.

“I thought you were staying at Grandma Victoria’s?”

“Me no stay at Granma V’to-to…ri-ah.” Poor Jordin still couldn’t fully pronounce her grandmother’s name, yet her grandmother with her ways insisted that she learned how, and learned right. “Mommy get me.”

“Okay.” Justin sighed. Now knowing that it was his wife and not his mother-in-law, he didn’t feel so bad for gawking at the figure bending over in the car.

“Daddy where my iceqweem?”

“In the house.” Justin patted her hooded head.

“Oh how mar-ve-lous!” She grinned before yanking open the screen door and running inside.

“She’s definitely been spending too much time with Ms. Victoria.”

“Tell me about it.” Justin blinked at the sudden and unexpected sound of his wife’s husky voice.

“H-hey Darnell.” Justin moved slightly to the left so that she could join him up on the porch. When she looked directly at him, he quickly lowered his eyes to his bare feet. Taking advantage of the moment of awkwardness, Darnell checked him out thoroughly.

She hadn’t stayed long enough or paid much attention to him during their last two therapy sessions. And when she came to get the kids she usually honked the horn. When she dropped them off it was the same thing, only she delivered hugs and kisses to the girls before doing so. So until now she hadn't notice that he was sporting a low-cut that hardly hinted at the mop of dirty-blonde curls she was accustomed to.

When he decided to shave his head, he must’ve forgotten about the stubble of spiky hairs around his jaw line that made him appear roughly male. He rocked a plain black tee shirt that he probably owned in two other colors, dingy white and shabby gray. To accompany the ever-present shirt, he wore a pair of even more raggedy black sweatpants.

She hadn’t seen him show this much disregard for his appearance since before they were married. She had gotten use to him clean-shaven and dressed as if he lived among civilized people and not like those rock stars, he fancied so much.

Darnell wouldn’t admit to anyone, not even herself that seeing him like this made her remember the good old Justin and Darnell days. Those days when they didn’t care what people like her mother thought about how they acted and dressed or how they wore their hair.

She suddenly smiled, remembering how her mother almost fainted at the sight of Justin’s hair when he showed up to escort her to her junior prom. He had grown his curls out to shoulder-length but had always pulled it back when her mother was around. However, that night he must’ve washed and roughed it a bit with his fingers because he entered her house with his damp hair framing his face à la Kurt Cobain, his favorite musician.

Darnell snickered also recalling her mother’s loud and deafening shrieks of dismay, as she had to be assisted by her father to the kitchen for a glass of water.

“What’s so funny?” Darnell looked up to find Justin’s intense questioning eyes on her.

“Oh…nothing.” She mumbled allowing the moment to pass. “Um…Kori and Michal inside?”

Justin continued to stare her down before responding, “Yeah, I was just about to order pizza.”

Darnell hooked her thumbs into the loops of her jeans. “Sounds good.”

“Err, you know I don’t mind if you stay for dinner.” Darnell blinked, taken aback by her husband’s offer and slightly embarrassed. It was sad how she had to be invited to a dinner with her own family. It was even sadder that she was somewhat hesitant to accept, knowing that he was most likely mad at her for running out on yet another session.

“I don’t-um I really sh-okay, I’ll stay.” She finally relented after seeing the expressions of hope, disappointment, and then lastly excitement play across face. Justin smiled a small smile in return.

“After you.” He held open the door for her. Darnell unenthusiastically moved towards the door until Justin tapped her on the shoulder. She raised her eyebrows to him. “You okay?”

“Mmm hmm,” was her only reply before Justin watched her enter the house and navigate through the small hallway into the living room. He let the door slam after him as he followed her into the kitchen. And much like earlier, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Blame it on the fact that he had been a sex-starved man who hadn’t engaged in any physical contact with his wife in two months, unless he considered the one time he met her at her car when she dropped off the kids and he couldn’t stop himself from kissing her senseless. She had left completely disoriented while he entered the house happier than he had been in a long time.

Remembering that night alone had him seriously contemplating a repeat performance. How would Darnell react if he suddenly snuck up on her? Would she slap him? She hadn't yet. Would she let the scene play out and put him out of his misery? She hadn’t allowed that yet either. Since Darnell was so set on being separated, he was sure he was going to die from lack of sex soon.

Justin sighed and went to sit at the kitchen table.

“So…are you going to order the pizza?”

“Oh hand me the phone.” He watched her as she turned around and reached up high to retrieve the telephone. His gaze lingered a little too long on the exposed small of her back before traveling to the full curves of her bottom. He groaned and forced himself to look away, deciding not to torture himself anymore.

“Here.” Darnell stretched out her hand, signaling him to take the cordless phone. He didn’t, asking her to make the phone call instead. Darnell rolled her eyes, while silently asking what he was up to.

“Call Little Joes that’s Jordin’s favorite.” Rolling her eyes again, Darnell strolled to the counter. She balanced her wide hip on the edge and folded one arm beneath her ample breasts. He watched annoyance transform her round and delicate features as she was put on hold. To past time, she began fiddling with her lengthy dark hair that she had now pulled back with a headband. He wouldn’t dare tell her this but the polka dot hair accessory made her look almost as girly as Darrien, especially with the pink lip-gloss gracing the bottom lip that she was currently gnawing on.

“It’ll be here in forty minutes.” Darnell suddenly ended the call. Justin nodded and they both fell silent while watching each other from across the room. Then Darnell opened her mouth as if she had something to say.

“What Dee?”

“I-I need a drink.”

“That’s what you were going to say?” He looked at her as if he didn’t believe her.

“Mmm hmm. I need something strong too.” Her eyes shifted to the refrigerator as Justin stared her down. He was hoping she would elaborate more, or apologize for her behavior at therapy but as always; she was tightlipped about her true feelings. And he was sure she had something to talk about considering she had not long ago left her mother’s. If she wasn’t upset with him, she was definitely upset with her mother. He wondered what the argument was about this time. He never found out though. He usually made a few calculated guesses.

Justin stood. “I’ll be back.” He decided that he would get her that drink after all.

Darnell released a sigh of relief as soon as he was gone. She was glad he hadn’t mentioned therapy. The first time she stormed out and he called her on it, it had been a very long telephone conversation. And she was so frustrated that she stayed up and watched a late night classic basketball game to calm her nerves rather than go right to sleep.

“Mommy look at what Grandma did to my hair.” Darnell turned her head and immediately she was blinded by the excessive amount of ribbon ponytails in her baby’s hair.

“What in the Grey Goose hell? Justin hurry up with that drink!”